Does prayer or meditation improve a client’s physical or mental health?

1. Does prayer or meditation improve a client’s physical or mental health? An evidenced based research presentation. By Mary DeWitt, Rick Loenser, Dawn Koolman and Terri Sand

2. Why is this important? • Prayer promoting good health. (Narayansam & Narayansamy, 2008) • Nurses, as health professionals could play an important role by praying with or for, patients. (Narayansamy & Narayanasamy, 2008) • Evidence will support positive outcomes in patient’s physical conditions .

3. Overview What is prayer? Petitionary Intercessory Adoration Ritual Prayer Meditative Prayer Colloquoil prayer What is Meditation? Ritual and process to spiritual transformation (Young & Koopsen, 2011, pg70-74)

4. Prayer and health Effects of Prayer • Coping • Arrest the progression of illness • Remission or complete healing (Young & Koopsen, 2011)

5. Literature ReviewResearch article: Healing Through PrayerQualitative Study Approaches • Semi-structured interview • 20 participants • Watson’s Theoretical Framework • Participants from several denominations Findings • 5 main cluster themes • Subthemes • Summary of participant responses • Learning obtained (Blasko, 2011)

6. Literature ReviewResearch article: Healing Through PrayerQualitative Study Limitations • Limited participants • Unequal gender distribution • Lack of cultural diversity • Narrowed scope of interview (Blasko, 2011) Credibility • Validated experiences of healing through prayer • Participants experienced healing • Researchers experienced life-altering inspiration • Prayer enhances spiritual phenomenon and healing

7. Literature ReviewPrivate prayer as a suitable intervention for hospitalized patients: a critical review of the literature Approaches • Literature based study • Systematic approach • Key words • Broad data base for literature search • Original research • Personal prayer Findings • Key variables • Private prayer • Frequency of prayer • Religiosity • Demographics • Prayer origination (Honeywell, 2008)

8. Literature ReviewPrivate prayer as a suitable intervention for hospitalized patients: a critical review of the literature Limitations • Lacks a defined Theoretical Framework • No controlled trials • Limited effectiveness of prayer • Evidence reliant on methodological approach • Sample bias Credibility • Evidence supports association between prayer and well-being • Active participation in prayer leads to better health • Private devotional prayer associated with decreased depression and anxiety (Honeywell, 2008)

9. Literature reviewTheoretical models of the nature of prayer and health: A review Approaches Findings • Empirical studies • The authors use many perspectives for the reviews of the studies • Many prayer types • Many different models • Effects of prayer: • Physiological • Psychological • Spiritual • Salutary (Breslin, 2008)

10. Literature reviewTheoretical models of the nature of prayer and health: A review Limitations Credibility • Unknown number of participants • No statistics offered • Authors and reviewers give suggestions • Many prayer types • With many different authors, they have different findings • A critical exam of past literature was conducted (Breslin, 2008)

11. Conclusions and Implications for Practice • Prayer is beneficial for health. • Young & Koopsen (2011) state, “Prayer can profoundly affect the healing process. Research demonstrates that religious practices such as worship attendance and prayer may contribute to physical and emotional health” (p. 72). • Research has demonstrated that regular prayer, scripture reading, or study provides health benefits (Matthews, 2000).

12. Conclusions and Implications for Practice (cont.) • These might affect health evidence suggests that the strongest impact of religion and spirituality on health is its preventive effect in healthy people (Chida, Steptoe, & Powell, 2009; Powell, Shahabi, & Thoresen, 2003), but religion/spirituality had also been shown to be a coping resource in diseased patients (Powell et al.). • Guthlin, Anton, Kruse, and Walach (2011) states, “Our results support data that imply the existence of a psychophysical pathway in healing through spiritual rituals, and gave subjective insight into the perspective of patients” (p. 328).

13. Conclusions and Implications for Practice (cont.) Research strongly supports the use of prayer as an alternative therapy for healing. Limitations are present but the benefits heavily outweigh the weaknesses. Prayer enhances spiritual phenomenon and healing

15. References Chida, Y., Steptoe, A., & Powell, L. H. (2009). Religiosity/spirituality and mortality. A systematic quantitative review. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 78(2), 81-90. doi:10.1159/000190791 Güthlin, C., Anton, A., Kruse, J. and Walach, H. (2011). Subjective Concepts of Chronically Ill Patients Using Distant Healing. Qualitative Health Research, 22(3), 320–331. DOI: 10.1177/1049732311421914 Matthews, D. S. (2000). Prayer and spirituality. Rheumatic Diseases of North American, 26(1), 177-187. Narayanasamy, A., & Narayansamy, M. (2008). The healing power of prayer and its implications for nursing. British Journal of Nursing, 17(6), 394-398. Powell, L. H., Shahabi, L., & Thoresen, C. E. (2003). Religion and spirituality: Linkages to physical health. American Psychologist, 58(1), 36-52. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.58.1.36

16. References (cont.) Taylor, E. J. (2002). Spiritual care. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Young, C., & Koopsen, C. (2011). Spirituality, Health, and Healing: An Integrative Approach (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

17. Annotated Bibliography Blaszko Helming, M., (2011). Healing Through Prayer. Holistic Nursing Practice, 25(1), 33-44. doi: 10.1097/HNP.0b013e3181fe2697 Mary Blaszko Helming, PhD, FNP, AHN-BC, Department of Nursing, Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut. This qualitative study approached the topic of healing through prayer amongst interviewed participants. Care providers were the intended audience for the research outcomes. The participants of the study were all affiliated with Christian churches of several denominations. The research focused on the participants experience with prayer and its influence on their personal medical conditions. Tables were presented displaying the interview guide questions, demographics of the participants, theme categories, and their subthemes. Their outcomes are discussed and the aspects of prayer are applied to their degree of healing. The study recognizes bias’s of the interview population in terms of age, gender, demographics, and culture.

18. Annotated Bibliography Breslin, Michael J. . & Lewis, Christopher A. (2008). Theoretical models of the nature of prayer and health: A review. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 11:1, 9-21. doi.org/10.1080/13674670701491449 Michael J. Breslin, School of Psychology, University of Ulster at Magee College, Londonderry, UK. Christopher A. Lewis, Glyndwr University This article looks at many perspectives and suggests how prayer has an effect on health. It states numerous ways on how prayer can effect health from a physiological, psychological and spiritual aspect. It refers to many different types of prayers and its focus is on caregivers as the intended audience. Since there are many perspectives that have suggestions on how prayer effects health, the source for this article would be biased. A special feature of this article is that it reviews theoretical models of prayer and their effects on health. The goal of this source is to enlighten people on the effects of prayer. This article was very informative about the many different effects that prayer has on health. This has helped me to realize how powerful prayer really is.

19. Annotated Bibliography Hollywell, C., & Walker, J., (2008). Private prayer as a suitable intervention for hospitalized patients: a critical review of the literature. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 18, 637-651. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2008.02510.x Clare Hollywell, BN, RN, staff Nurse and Missionary Nurse, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK. Jan Walker, BSC, PhD, RN, RHV, C. Psychol, FHEA, Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK The focus of the research was to collect evidence supporting the use of private prayer to improve the wellbeing for adult hospitalized patients. One of the authors initiated the study due to her commitment to religion and her belief in the power of prayer. The research was conducted through a review of literature following a systematic approach. Limitations identified in the study were a lack of experimental research, sample bias, and a theoretical framework model. The study, intended for healthcare providers, identified evidence that there is a positive association between prayer and wellbeing. A table presenting the publications reviewed and their key findings are included in the article.